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About this project

Finally, a Cool New Way To Learn a Language.

Mind Wiz is a hit with this crowd :-)

Putting Excitement Into Learning

This Indie game, Mind Wiz, was created with a simple goal in mind: to make it fun to learn. If you take a look at the so called "educational games" on the iPad and iPhone today, you will be surprised to see the lack of quality out there.

It is surprising because the educational market is actually huge, and you'd think that there should be a huge demand for an exciting game that can accelerate the learning process. But, what passes for popular games these days are generally mindless eye-candy where you don't actually learn or benefit from the time invested in playing them. They are basically fun and exciting, but a waste of time in the grand scheme of things.

Wouldn't it actually be great if there was an educational game that doesn't suck, but that is addicting and whereby you actually have fun learning? What an intriguing and alien concept in today's landscape of games.

Revolution in Learning: The Vision of Mind Wiz

In supporting Mind Wiz, you are not only supporting an Indie game, you are supporting a revolution in the way we learn. Up until now, the traditional method of learning was through boring textbooks and rigorous discipline and hard work. With Mind Wiz, we want to create a new paradigm shift and inspire the way people think about learning. Learning does not have to be dull, it can be an invigorating adventure. Up until now, the latest games with the awe-inspiring 3D graphics have been applied only to entertain, but, in fact, it is my opinion that becoming more educational is where gaming has its greatest potential. Can you imagine a future where the realism and beauty of games like GTA or Skyrim can be applied to create an immersive 3D world whereby clicking on objects you can learn about them in an interactive way? Whether it is learning a language or doing research on different regional natural plant and animal life, to a hospital simulation where can you actually perform the latest surgical techniques in a virtual reality setting. This is the future, and your support of Mind Wiz is a first step toward this eventual goal. Now, Mind Wiz is not 3D, but this is the direction we want to lead in the future.

In the main menu, access the Leaderboard, Achievements, Progress Report and Start Game.

The Latest Harvard Research Shows the Benefits of Early Learning

The latest research in early education states that a child's brain architecture is established before entering school. Early learning experiences have "an exceptionally strong influence on brain architecture." Rich, high quality immersive education can give your child a definite head start advantage. Further information can be found in this Harvard academic paper: http://www.ecdgroup.com/docs/lib_005471954.pdf

Unlimited Discovery Through Unlimited Expansions

With the Mind Wiz platform, you can explore many further expansions, not only with regard to content, but also with different gameplay expansions like head-to-head, internet multiplayer and more. Soon your child (or grandchild) will be able to play a new preschool/kindergarten version of the game whereby only a few bubbles appear on the screen at a time to make it easier for the one and two year-olds to have fun learning.

Mind Wiz gameplay: Swipe the correct bubble or tap the bubbles to hear the sound of the words.

Makes Learning A New Language Fun, Even For Adults

Mind Wiz is designed to appeal to all ages; even for adults who wish to learn a foreign language. The animated wizard can be disabled in the Mind Wiz option screen for a more mature look and feel.

Campaigns - Each expansion pack has 5 stages, totaling about 100 new words and art per pack.

English and Chinese are here now, with more languages coming!

Writing this now, I am in China and an early inspiration to create this was to provide an easier and more interesting way for myself to learn Chinese. Presently, the only two languages on Mind Wiz are English and Chinese, but the Spanish and French modules will be available soon, with more languages and expansion packs on their way.

Pronounce Asian languages easier with both the characters and their pronunciation (with accents)

Internal Database Keeps Track of Each Player's Progress

One cool feature unique to Mind Wiz is the built-in database that tracks
player progress. In a household of 3 children, for example, it is easy
to switch between players and view at a glance what words you have
mastered, and which ones you are struggling with. Each campaign stage
you unlock is unique to you. Campaign progress is reset for each new
user.

This screen keeps track of the progress of each user on the device, recording every time you miss a word or guess it correctly.

Achievements That Reward Excellence

One incentive in the game is to unlock achievements, which is only possible with a 100% score across all 5 stages of an expansion pack. Bronze, Silver or Gold achievements are unlocked depending on the difficulty mode.

Unlock achievements by finishing all 5 stages with 100%

Minimum Funding Goal

We set the minimum funding goal relatively low to ensure that this first foray into Kickstarter can be more easily achieved. However, we have much greater plans for Mind Wiz that obviously requires more funding than this.

With the minimum funding goal, we will quickly release the following:

- The Android version playable on Android phones, the Kindle Fire and other Android tablets (right now Mind Wiz is playable on iPhones and iPad, and is available now in the App Store)

- In-App Kickstarter Credits Screen we want to acknowledge your support with your name displayed inside the actual game. This feature will be active on all devices on the next Mind Wiz update.

This is where you
can make a difference. You can now see the potential with Mind Wiz and
with the proper funding and community-building that Kickstarter can
provide, you can help put the excitement back in learning!

Celebrate a New Adventure In Learning!

STRETCH GOALS

As this project nears the minimum funding goal, the stretch goals below will be fleshed out with specific target amounts to unlock them.

German, Russian, Korean and Japanese.

Arabic,
Hindi, Italian and Portuguese

More Music Soundtracks - ability to change the music channel to more relaxing music or music that matches your preference.

More Background Art for Gameplay screen - right now we have the blue sky and clouds behind the bubble, but we want more background art for the various stages, like sunrise/sunset, nighttime, and more!

Mind Wiz Preschool and Kindergarten version! - An easy version that even babies can play.. displaying only 3 large bubbles on the screen at a time. We can even allow parents to choose how many bubbles display.

Voice-recognition - speak the answer instead of swiping!

Sentence Building - An advanced mode whereby you can see multiple images and create a sentence
to mirror the images displayed, by dragging words into slots, forming a
sentence and vice versa. For example, the top of the screen can
display the art for dog (from the animal pack) , eating (from the
action words pack), and apple (from the fruit pack)... and the answer is
to form the sentence "The dog is eating an apple."

Cannon minigame - Cannons shoot 5 bubbles on the screen at a time and you have to swipe the correct bubble before they fall off the screen.

Mind Wiz multiplayer modes, allowing you to compete on an internet leaderboard or play head to head if you have an iPad or similar tablet-sized device.. so two players can play on one device at once. The fastest and most accurate player wins!

More Expansion Packs! Ideas include Anatomy, Bones of the human body, geography. If you are a backer, and there is an expansion idea that you would like to see in the game, please post your idea(s) in the comment section and we will be happy to consider including it as a stretch goal.

Thanks For Helping Mind Wiz Achieve Greatness

With Mind Wiz, you can see what's been accomplished towards the simple goal
of creating what is arguably the best language learning game on the
planet, and now you can help make it even more awesome. If there is a
better game for learning a language, please let us know, because we are still searching.

Someday, in the not so distant future, it is my belief that textbooks in the traditional sense will become obsolete, and they will be replaced by tablets. Students won't be lugging around huge backpacks full of books, and supplementary games like this are what will make learning more fun.

Thank you in advance for helping to make this dream a reality.

Risks and challenges

Mind Wiz is already here! You can download it from the iPhone / iPad app store. It is stable and playtested, it has been a secret up until now, as the marketing campaign has only just begun. With this Kickstarter project, you are among the first in the world to discover Mind Wiz.

The only technical challenges will be additional features like voice-recognition, but we already have a shortlist of developers with experience with that who say that this will be easy to implement.

I don't foresee any technical challenge in achieving the stretch goals in a timely manner. We have a great team of artists and devs eager to take Mind Wiz to the next level.

FAQ

Rewards

You selected

Pledge $5 or more

1 backer

Get the full game for the iOS or Android with one expansion pack of your choice. Also get an early invitation to reserve your username for global leaderboard, forum, and online chat for the
upcoming database-driven Mind Wiz website.

Estimated delivery:Mar 2014

You selected

Pledge $10 or more

1 backer

$10 Get everything above and all three initial expansion packs: Animals, Home and Travel! Exclusive access to the upcoming Kickstarter-only voting area, where you determine what expansion packs, features and new games we do next!

Estimated delivery:Mar 2014

You selected

Pledge $15 or more

Pledge $19 or more

0 backers

Get all the above, plus all 4 of the pending new expansion packs in a language of your choice: Ocean Life, Veggies and Food, Action Words and Adjectives! 730 words and art! Also, your name will appear on the Charter supporters page on the Mind Wiz website !

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $25 or more

0 backers
Limited (500 left of 500)

Get everything above, plus every expansion pack (in one language) that will be released for the next 12 months! More than 1000 vocabulary words and artwork! Plus you get “VIP” designation next to your username on the Mind Wiz website on all forum posts, online chat, high scores and Mind Wiz credits screen. Also, your name will appear as a bronze VIP supporter on the Mind Wiz in-game credits screen!

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $40 or more

1 backer

Get everything above, plus every Mind Wiz language pack to be released for the next 12 months, in a second language of your choice: Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Portuguese and more! Also, your name will appear as a silver VIP supporter on the Mind Wiz in-game credits screen!

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $60 or more

0 backers

Get everything above, plus every Mind Wiz non-language learning expansion pack released for the next 12 months including Math, Sciences, Geography, head-to-head multiplayer and more! Also, your name will appear as a gold VIP supporter on the Mind Wiz in-game credits screen!

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $100 or more

0 backers
Limited (100 left of 100)

$100 Get everything above for the next 2 years instead of 12 months! Also, your name will be listed as a “Producer” in the in-game credits. You will also be part of the Founder’s Circle and get a
secret email address for priority support and suggestions. Best value!

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $200 or more

1 backer
Limited (49 left of 50)

Unlimited ownership of all Mind Wiz iOS or Android content for the next 5 years! Get the “Founder” icon next to your username for the leaderboard, forum posts, and online chat! Get the ultra-secret e-mail address of the game creator and President for top priority support requests and suggestions. Make sure your ideas make it into the game!

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $1,000 or more

0 backers
Limited (12 left of 12)

Everything above, plus be a featured sponsor of the Mind Wiz website for 6 months, with your own banner. (must be tasteful)

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $5,000 or more

0 backers
Limited (10 left of 10)

All of the above and immortalize yourself or your child! The Wizard face window will allow all players to change the face of the Wizard to one of up to 15 preset faces. A artist's rendering of you or your child’s face can be a selectable option on every Mind Wiz game on every device, worldwide!

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

You selected

Pledge $10,000

0 backers
Limited (4 left of 4)

All of the above and be a top sponsor for Mind Wiz and have your logo appear on one corner of
the Mind Wiz loading screen. This includes future updates and versions for the next 2 years.

Estimated delivery:Jun 2014

Funding period

Feb 4, 2014 - Mar 6, 2014
(30 days)

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